1

Welcome to the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion!

Dear Teachers,

We would like to invite you to experience the world of insects and other

arthropods! Here at the Insectarium, we want to provide students with an

entertaining yet educational experience that can supplement classroom learning.

We understand that as teachers, you have many standards to achieve and such

high expectations to complete them! That’s why we’re here to help make sure

the field trip is a learning opportunity.

We offer a bridge to State and Common Core standards, and have tailored our

educational offerings to meet those standards. Our professional staff understand

both the standards you need to meet and the subject matter (Insects), and we

have provided some resources for you. Feel free to use these resources as a

follow-up to your visit.

We are open to your suggestions and are happy to modify our tours to your needs, so if you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out at info@phillybutterflypavilion.com.

Let us share our passion for the wonders of the Earth through

learning about its most diverse and interesting inhabitants.

The Insectarium Education Team John Cambridge; Supervisor, PhD in entomology Allison Payenski; Education specialist, B.A. in Life Science Education Morgan Roberts; B.A. in Biology Education, PhD in Entomology

The Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion

8046 Frankford Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19136

www.phillybutterflypavilion.com

2

Common mission Every student is different. Some are afraid of insects, while many are fascinated with them. Insects are all around us. You cannot venture into the natural world without encountering them. The fear of insects prevents people from enjoying the outdoors. We want to bring out the beauty of insects. We can start with the butterfly pavilion. Very few people are afraid of butterflies. As we move to the second and third floors of the Insectarium, we show a variety of insects and other arthropods in natural settings. We can explain where they live, and what they do. Most insects are not dirty. Most do not spread diseases, sting, or bite. Insects are not mean, or aggressive. Bees don't sting because they are angry. What this means for kids is that they need not be afraid of a bee that is just going about its business collecting nectar and pollen. We favor using age-appropriate terminology, but also believe in exposing children to a complex descriptive vocabulary. If you say "pterygotes" are winged insects, you expose a child to the roots of other words like "Pterydacyl" (which means "wing finger"). The common features of insects, such as three body regions, and six legs, are the result of inheritance from a common ancestor. We will present the adaptations of insects as evolutionary innovations that help them compete and survive, shaped by natural selection. We present our materials through an evolutionary lens. We would also like to dispel some common errors and misconceptions. Insects are animals. Many people think of animals as being restricted to mammals. Sponges are animals. So are Earthworms. Thinking of insects as animals helps redefine how we think of the animal world. It is mostly insects. Our obsession with vertebrates comes through with the word "Invertebrate". Although this term is still in common use, it is confusing, because it defines a group of animals based on what they are not. They are not vertebrates. But plants aren't vertebrates either. It is better to say "Insects" if you mean insects, or "Arthropods" if you mean insects, millipedes and spiders, or "Insects and Snails" if that’s what you mean. Simple things like grammar is often lost in scientific terminology. Pronunciation can be difficult. For example, "larvae" (pronounced "lar-vee") is the plural form of "larva". Another common and confusing term refers to "segments". Insects are segmented animals, like Earthworms are. Insects have between 15 and 20 segments. So when we say that there are 3 segments: "head, thorax, and abdomen", we are setting up confusion for when later, they learn about segmentation. It would be better to say 3 body regions, and then talk about tagmosis as the regional specialization of functions. These things are hard, and we know you would like to get it right for your students. We can help.

Fourth grade lessons:

SAS Standard - 4.1.4.A1 Environment

Explain what happens to an organism when its food supply, access to water, shelter or space (niche /

habitat) is changed.

SAS Standard - 4.1.3.E

Identify changes in the environment over time. SAS Standard - 4.5.4.C

Describe how human activities affect the environment.

3

Handout on Regal Fritillary habitat, prairies to farmland. Satisfies 4.1.D Biodiversity and 4.1.E Succession

Regal fritillary butterflies need prairies to survive. Their caterpillars eat violets that live in prairies. Adult butterflies drink nectar from flowers. Especially milkweed and thistles. Most of the prairies were turned into farms over a hundred years ago. Our cities have gotten bigger too, and meadows have been turned into lawns. Butterflies that need prairies and meadows now have few places left where they can live.

Prairies are full of many species of grasses and flowers, including violets, thistles and milkweed. Prairies are a kind of ecosystem.

The red dots in the map above are where Regal Fritillaries were once found. They don't live there anymore. The green areas are where prairies used to be. Most of these areas are farms now. Regal fritillaries can still be found in the big orange area in the middle, and a small place here in Pennsylvania! But these butterflies are struggling to survive everywhere because there are not as many meadows and prairies as there used to be. Pesticides kill bees and butterflies too.

People need to grow food on farms. We would starve without them. Weeds take water and nutrients away from the corn plants. So farmers kill the weeds in their fields. They also put chemicals in the corn that kill insects, because corn is OUR food, and farmers make less money if insects eat our corn. Some of those chemicals can blow off the cornfield into nearby meadows. The picture on the right is a cornfield. Only one species of plant lives here. Corn! Only corn. No milkweed. No violets, and no thistles.

This kind of ecosystem is called a MONOCULTURE.

4

SAS Standard - 4.1.4.A2 Environment

Identify similarities and differences between living organisms, ranging from single-celled to multi-cellular

organisms through the use of microscopes, video, and other media.

Location: 2nd floor phylogeny painting Exercise: We have designed a fun and challenging card game that demonstrates the characteristics of living organisms. Students are given a stack of cards face down, with organisms from the phylogeny wall printed on them, along with a classification. For example: Velvet worm: Life/Eukaryote/Animal/Bilaterian/Ecdysozoan/Onycophoran They form pairs and flip one over, simultaneously. Then they find the name on both cards that is closest to the end of the list (the most recent common ancestor). The first one to shout it out, gets both cards. Continue flipping until one student has all the cards. If they call the wrong name, the second student can challenge and take both cards (if correct). This exercise will be at the phylogeny wall.

5

Students receive a chart like this that they can look at. Phylogeny will be explained.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Bacteria X X

Fern X X X

Lily X X X snail X X X X

Earthworm X X X X Sea Star X X X

Lamprey X X X X Clownfish X X X X X

Frog X X X X X X Mouse X X X X X X

Nematode X X X X X Tardigrade X X X X X

Horseshoe crab X X X X X X

Spider X X X X X X X Scorpion X X X X X X X

Collembola X X X X X X X Zygentoma X X X X X X X

Dragonfly X X X X X X X X Grasshopper X X X X X X X X

Walking Stick X X X X X X X X Mantid X X X X X X X X

Roach X X X X X X X X

Hemipteran X X X X X X X X Bee X X X X X X X X X

Beetle X X X X X X X X X Butterfly X X X X X X X X X

Fly X X X X X X X X X

1. DNA 2. Proteins made with tRNAs and rRNAs* 3. Chloroplasts 4. Bilateral Symmetry* 5. Mouth Develops from Blastopore* 6. Skull protects the brain 7. True Bones 8. 4 Legs 9. Exoskeleton (molted) 10. Chelicerate Mouthparts 11. Two body regions 12. Three body regions 13. Six Legs 14. Wings 15. Larvae very different from adults. Change during a pupal stage * Make a simpler version by skipping these for younger children.

NEXTGEN LS1.4 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to

support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction. [Clarification Statement: Examples of structures

could include thorns, stems, roots, colored petals, heart, stomach, lung, brain, and skin.] [Assessment

Boundary: Assessment is limited to macroscopic structures within plant and animal systems.]

See Grade 1, NEXTGEN LS1.1 on Mouthparts, and worksheets "Form and Function" pages 17-18 and "What do I do" page 22.

6

NEXTGEN LS1.4 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes

2. Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process

the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways. [Clarification Statement:

Emphasis is on systems of information transfer.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include the

mechanisms by which the brain stores and recalls information or the mechanisms of how sensory receptors

function.]

Location: 2nd floor wall paintings. Exercise: Our guides will discuss the differences and similarities between insect vision, hearing and touch. Objectives: Students will understand that insects see and form images in their brains similar to the way we do. They will see that insect ears have a tympanic membrane, like our eardrums, but that these "ears" can be found almost anywhere on the body. Students will learn that insect smell and taste sensors are located all over the body, but concentrated on the antennae, mouthparts, and feet. They will learn the similarities between insect and human chemoreceptors, and be exposed to breaking down long scientific (scary) words down to their root forms. Teachers guide to Insect senses. This figure shows how compound eyes work, and how (on the left) most people misunderstand insect vision. Each lens is pointed at a very small patch of the insect's view. The brain puts the image together, like our brains do. Insect vision is blurry, but very good at detecting motion and color.

Insect hearing There is a good tutorial site about insect hearing at http://what-when-how.com/insects/hearing-insects/ Have you ever wondered if insects can hear? Some of them can. Most of them can’t (except through vibrations in the substrate). Insect “ears” are similar to ours in that they have eardrums (tympanic membranes) that vibrate when sound hits them, and these vibrations are sensed by

7

nerves. But insect ears are found on many different parts of the body, depending on the species. Some are on the legs, others on the abdomens, and just about any other place.

Why do insects hear? Lots of reasons, but let’s talk about 2 big reasons.

1. To find mates. Insect sing to find mates of their own species. So if an insect is singing, you can guess that it can hear too. Cicadas, crickets, Katydids all sing for this reason, and what is the point of a song if you can’t hear it. And every species sings a different song.

2. To avoid predators. Lots of insects fly at night (they are “nocturnal”). Bats hunt at night. By making high pitched sounds, and then listening for the sound to bounce back (an echo), bats can “see” insects in the dark with sound. We call this “Echolocation”. Well, if you were a moth, and you could hear the sound of a bat, what would you do? You would try to get away. Perhaps you would tuck in your wings and fall. Or change directions. So it is important for moths to hear.

Let’s talk about ancient time. The Dinosaurs (technically, the non-bird dinosaurs) went extinct when a comet hit the earth 65 million years ago. Before this, most mammals were small insect eaters, hiding from all those dinosaurs. There were NO bats. Then with the dinosaurs gone, mammals had a chance to evolve into many of the forms that were once reserved for the dinosaurs. Bats appeared after the dinosaurs disappeared. What does this have to do with insects? Well moths were around even before the dinosaurs, and they survived the big comet impact. So the ears on so many moths that sense bat sounds are relatively new and independent adaptations.

8

Insects "smell" through sensory cells, often located on their antennae. They use their sense of smell to find food, prey, and mates. Females often produce an attractive "perfume" that tells

males where they are. These chemical cues are called "pheromones". You could predict that if antennae on males are larger than on the females, then they are probably used to detect the female's smell (pheromones). When males and females have different forms, we call it "sexual dimorphism". Don't be afraid of long words. "Di" means 2, "morph" means form. Two forms! Easy, once you know the roots of words. Here's another long word; "Chemoreceptors". What do you think "Chemo" means? What does it sound like? How about "receptors"? Chemoreceptors are chemical sensors or chemical receivers. They are connected to nerves, and when they come in contact with a chemical, they send a signal to the brain. We have chemoreceptors inside our noses, and on our tongue. Insects have chemoreceptors on their antennae, and also in other places. Insects taste with chemoreceptors on their mouthparts, and sometimes on their feet.

Insects have little hairs called sensilla that are connected to nerves. These sensilla are mechanoreceptors. You guessed it "mechanical sensors". These sensory hairs can be found all over the body, but can be concentrated on the mouthparts, antennae and legs.

SAS 4.1.D Biodiversity

Explain how specific adaptations can help organisms survive in their environment.

See Teachers Guide. Body parts and adaptation, pages 24-25.

SAS Standard - 4.1.3.C

Identify sources of energy.

Lesson under construction

SAS Standard - 4.5.4.B

Determine the circumstances that cause humans to identify an organism as a pest.

Location: Cockroach terrariums Exercise: Lesson modified from pages 6-7. Have guides explain what makes a pest. Tour the roach terrariums. We will mention disease vectors (mosquitos) and agricultural pests. Only a few roaches are major household pests. Compare the species of pest cockroaches with the "nice" ones that don't bother anybody. Have students hold a Madagascar hissing cockroach. The German cockroach (Blattella germanica) is small and brown. This one is the little one running around in the kitchen. It eats and poops in our food. Yuck! (by the way, it comes from Asia, not Germany). The American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) is the huge redish brown one. It eats our and poops in our food to, and it stinks! (American cockroaches originated in Africa). The Oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis) is the big black one with little wing stubs. Since it likes damp places, it often comes out of the sewer. So its got disgusting stuff on its feet. (This one comes from the Crimea, Ukraine or Russia). The Brown-banded cockroach (Supella longipalpa) is another little brown one, like the German cockroach, but this one does not need as much water, so it can be found all over the house. These cockroaches are now all over the world, after travelling with humans on ships. The only thing that makes them pests is they like to live in our homes. Compare this to thousands of other "nice" cockroaches that live in the forest. Hold a Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa)! It is NOT gross. It doesn't live in a sewer or spread disease or eat our food. They make good pets. Look at the cute Question mark roaches (Therea olegrandjeani). Being a roach does not make you a pest. Invading our homes, pooping on our food, and spreading diseases; THAT makes you a pest. Objective: Students will see that "Roach" is not a single species. Some are pests, most are not. Students will identify characteristics that make different species pests.

9

Name ______________________

Based on NGSS 4-LS1-1, 4-LS1-2 4.1 1

Walk this Way Tour Activity

1. Label the five parts of an insect leg (Hint: Use the Trait wall with the legs on it).

2. Find and draw an insect in the museum. Pay special attention to its legs in your drawing.

3. Fill in the table about your insect.

Type of Insect

Habitat/Environment

Type of legs (For this, use the Trait wall to figure out which type is the closest fit to your insect)

4. Why do you think the legs you drew are shaped this way?

5. How does this shape help that insect move around in its environment?

10

11

Name ______________________

Based on NGSS 4-LS1-1, 4-LS1-2 4.1 3

Match the insect to the drawing of its correct legs.

Insect Leg Type Grasshopper

Cockroach

Praying Mantis

Mole Cricket

Diving Beetle

12

13

Name ______________________

Based on NGSS 4-LS1-1, 4-LS1-2 4.1 5

3. Choose one of the robots from the list, and come up with a drawing or design that you would present to a

company who makes the robots.

4. Write an argument to the engineers that makes them choose your design for their new robot.

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

14

Name ______________________

Based on NGSS 4-LS1-1, 4-LS1-2 4.1 6

Answer Key

Jumping

Running

Digging

Swimming

Grasping